Race 14 - Day 2
Crew Diary - THE FINALE: Den Helder, Netherlands, to London, UK
29 July

Tzen Chia
Tzen Chia
Team Unicef
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This changes everything.

We'll get to the dock and once we're let off we're going to disperse into to form our own little nuclei, away from the familiarity of the boat into one that used to be and hopefully will be. The transition back to life on land.

Thank you for sharing this incredible journey with us. Even if we haven't met yet, Thank you. It’s been a great pleasure being on board the good ship Unicef, seeing through all its skippers, legs, oceans and crew of all sorts. If you've managed to find our blogs through the web that is the internet at the Clipper website and followed us to the end's of the earth and back and still reading. Thank you.

There seems to be a great desire for us to clinch the final Stormhoek Social Spirit Award, especially since our boat has raised almost £60, 000 out of the £250, 000 thus far. About a quarter of the total, being the main charity boat of the race, having sailed around the world having the privilege to engage with other like-minded people working with Unicef, sailing with them at Stopovers. Sailing with children and seeing first-hand the work and collaboration that they do.

From Cape Town, UNICEF Ambassadors sailed with children from the sports programme, Unicef staff and sponsors all taken out on our boat for the first time. And in Sydney, Da Nang where we went to visit children at an Agent Orange care centre and take them out to sail too. In Qingdao, where we explored ideas of living a more energy conscious life. Seattle, Children from neighbourhoods in Panama, Sponsors taking part in fit bit challenges to feed children suffering from malnutrition, transferring calories from the more developed countries to less developed and finally back in London. They do good work all over the world and we are grateful to have been a part of it.

Writing at an angle will never become easier, though our thoughts should flow better when our legs are not in the air, while the keyboard is angled.

We made it as a crew, without any life-changing damage, safely in one piece. We've circumnavigated and sailed around the world, though there is still so much to see, at our own pace. Now that we've done this, it is only the beginning of our lives that will stretch and launch from this experience and knowledge of knowing what we have accomplished together.

Beyond all these clichés that have begun to resonate true, only time will tell, when the reality of finishing is solidified and we have space to look on hindsight, the life we led between the summers of 2015-2016.

Till next time,

Tzen